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An Explanation of Hypnosis, Self-Hypnosis & NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) by A.E. Abedi Taoist-Books.com Hypnosis … page 1 Self-Hypnosis … page 17 NLP … page 30 What Is Hypnosis? Lets begin with the explanation of Hypnosis from a medical site called WebMD. Article, “Hypnosis Goes Mainstream” ; Hypnosis is merely a tool -- a technique to tap into the subconscious, says Oster, who heads the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. No pocket watches are involved and no one clucks like a chicken afterward. In fact hypnosis is a state of concentration and focused attention. With it the mind can be more powerful. You simply have slipped into your subconscious. In a hypnotherapist's office, you can learn self-hypnosis. Don't worry, you won't lose control. You won't do anything against your will. "No one takes away our choice under any conditions -- no one can make you do anything you wouldn't normally do," says Jane Ann Covington, a hypnotist in Atlanta and founder of the Hypnosis Institute International Center for Developing Mastery. In hypnosis, you don't even lose consciousness, Covington tells WebMD. "If I said something inappropriate to you, you would either disregard it or get up and leave," she says. "You would react as you normally would." In other words, Hypnosis is a relaxed yet heightened state of awareness that helps change ones behavior; “Hypnosis is a form of highly focused attention” - Newsweek Everything else you have heard about hypnosis (from, the movies, for example) is just 1 Taoist-Books.com © A.E. Abedi

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An Explanation of Hypnosis, Self-Hypnosis & NLP (NeuroLinguistic Programming)

by A.E. AbediTaoist-Books.com

Hypnosis … page 1Self-Hypnosis … page 17

NLP … page 30

What Is Hypnosis?

Lets begin with the explanation of Hypnosis from a medical site called WebMD. Article, “Hypnosis Goes Mainstream”;

Hypnosis is merely a tool -- a technique to tap into the subconscious, says Oster, who heads the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.

No pocket watches are involved and no one clucks like a chicken afterward.

In fact hypnosis is a state of concentration and focused attention. With it the mind can be more powerful. You simply have slipped into your subconscious.

In a hypnotherapist's office, you can learn self-hypnosis. Don't worry, you won't lose control. You won't do anything against your will. "No one takes away our choice under any conditions -- no one can make you do anything you wouldn't normally do," says Jane Ann Covington, a hypnotist in Atlanta and founder of the Hypnosis Institute International Center for Developing Mastery.

In hypnosis, you don't even lose consciousness, Covington tells WebMD.

"If I said something inappropriate to you, you would either disregard it or get up and leave," she says. "You would react as you normally would."

In other words, Hypnosis is a relaxed yet heightened state of awareness that helps change ones behavior;

“Hypnosis is a form of highly focused attention” - Newsweek

Everything else you have heard about hypnosis (from, the movies, for example) is just

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imagination gone wild.

Extract from "How Hypnosis Works" from how stuff works:

When you hear the word hypnosis, you may picture the mysterious hypnotist figure popularized in movies, comic books and television. This ominous, goateed man waves a pocket watch back and forth, guiding his subject into a semi-sleep, zombie-like state. Once hypnotized, the subject is compelled to obey, no matter how strange or immoral the request. Muttering "Yes, master," the subject does the hypnotist's evil bidding. This popular representation bears little resemblance to actual hypnotism, of course. In fact, modern understanding of hypnosis contradicts this conception on several key points. Subjects in a hypnotic trance are not slaves to their "masters" -- they have absolute free will. And they're not really in a semi-sleep state -- they're actually hyperattentive.

Uses Of Hypnosis from WebMD.com ;

Hypnosis -- or hypnotherapy -- uses guided relaxation, intense concentration, and focused attention to achieve a heightened state of awareness that is some-times called a trance. The person's attention is so focused while in this state that anything going on around the person istemporarily blocked out or ignored. In this naturally occurring state, a person may focus his orher attention -- with the help of a trained therapist -- on specific thoughts or tasks.

How Does Hypnosis Work? - Hypnosis is usually considered an aid to psychotherapy (counseling or therapy), because the hypnotic state allows people to explore painful thoughts, feelings, and memories they might have hidden from their consciousminds. In addition, hypnosis enables people to perceive some things differently, such as blocking an awareness of pain.

Hypnosis can be used in two ways, as suggestion therapy or for patient analysis.

•Suggestion therapy:The hypnotic state makes the person better able to respond to suggestions. Therefore, hypnotherapy can help some people change certain behaviors, such as stopping smoking or nail biting. It can also help people change perceptions and sensations, and is particularly useful in treating pain.•Analysis: This approach uses the relaxed state to find the root cause of a disorder or symptom, such as a traumatic past event that a person has hidden in his or her unconscious memory. Once the trauma is revealed, it can be addressed in psychotherapy.

What Are the Benefits of Hypnosis? The hypnotic state allows a person to be more open to discussion and suggestion. It can improve the success of other treatments for many conditions, including;•Phobias, fears, and anxiety

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•Sleep disorders•Depression•Stress•Post-trauma anxiety•Grief and loss

A more technical explanation of hypnosis...

The educational division of the US government (at least at one time, if not now) defines ‘Hypnosis’ as:

(a) Hypnosis is the bypass of the critical factor

(b) Hypnosis is the establishment of acceptable selective thinking

To understand what this definition of hypnosis means you need a few more definitions;

The conscious mind

The conscious mind contains the rational and analytic parts of your mind. When you reason out something, do math or analyze a situation you are using your conscious mind. Will power is also a part of the conscious mind as exerting your will power requires conscious effort.

The subconscious mind

Everything that happens in your life is recorded in your subconscious mind. You may not remember the lunch you had 3 years ago but your subconscious mind does.

You subconscious mind also contains all your habits and emotions. In fact, everything you have learned is stored in your subconscious. For example; when you are learning how to drive you use your conscious mind but once you have learned driving then this knowledge becomes a part of your subconscious mind. If you need to hit the brakes you do it automatically without any conscious decision.

You react from your subconscious mind.

When you are driving you can think about work or weekend plans without having to think of pressing the gas pedal or the brakes. You do so automatically.

In other words, once you have learned a skill or habit then you operate from your

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subconscious mind in that area. The same applies to beliefs. If you were told as a kid that ‘you are dumb’ or ‘you will never succeed’, and you believed it, then that is a part of your subconscious mind and it dictates your behavior and accomplishments. If you are a smoker then you smoke automatically rarely aware of each drag on the cigarette. The smoking habit is also something that has been programmed in to your subconscious mind.

The subconscious is lazy.

When your subconscious mind has been programmed with a new habit it is a part of you. Thishabit is something you have learned and your subconscious values it as knowledge. It could be learning how to ride a bike. Once you have learned how to ride a bike you can do so at any time in your life. It’s knowledge in your subconscious.

In the same way, if you smoke then that too will become a habit and this habit will also be considered to be learned knowledge by your subconscious mind.

Remember: The subconscious mind doesn't differentiate between good and bad; it just learnsand acts on the knowledge that has been programmed into it.

The subconscious mind is protective.

Once a new skill or habit (good for you or bad for you) has been programmed into your subconscious mind it tends to become rigid. That’s why it’s a well known fact that habits are hard to change. Exerting will power to change is a conscious effort and after a while you just get tired. That’s why so many people start things and drop out (like dieting or trying to quit smoking). However, if you can change your subconscious programming then making the change you desire becomes easy and automatic. If you have been smoking for many years then the habit of smoking is very strong in your subconscious and since smoking has been done for so long your subconscious mind considers it to be valuable knowledge. To change the smoking habit means you have to replace all the habits involved in smoking with new habits. The power of the suggestions and emotional force behind those suggestions has to bestronger than the original habit for it to be removed and new beliefs to get programmed into your subconscious.

The critical factor

The critical factor blocks new beliefs and habits from entering your subconscious mind.

The critical factor is your awareness of the suggestions.

If you like what you hear then the critical fact is ‘bypassed’ and the suggestions go into your subconscious.

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The number and emotional power of the suggestions still have to be more than the original programming for your subconscious mind to get reprogrammed which means you may have to absorb lots of similar suggestion and maybe do a hypnosis session more than once to properly replace an old programming such as a bad habit.

However, if you genuinely desire the suggestions you hear and believe you can make these new beliefs a part of you then there is enough emotional power behind the suggestions for reprogramming your subconscious mind with ease.

In everyday life you encounter many situations where your critical factor is bypassed. Such as watching advertisement and getting a sudden craving for McDonald's or some KFC. However, when you are with a hypnotist your critical factor is on high alert so the “Critical Factor Bypass” (referred to as CFB in marketing), that advertisers are able to pull off, won’t work for a hypnosist.

Acceptable selective thinking

If you are doing hypnosis for self-confidence then the affirmations and suggestions you focus on to increase your confidence is what you consider to be ‘acceptable selective thinking’.

Affirmations and suggestions that are about feeling insecure and fearful of others would be ‘unacceptable selective thinking’.

In self-hypnosis you choose the affirmations and visualizations you are going to do during your practice, so you have chosen the selective thinking that you want to reprogram your subconscious with, i.e. you chose what is acceptable to you. If you go to a hypnotist you may hear some suggestions that don’t fit with how you view the world, for example, if you are very materialistic and your hypnotist says ‘you trust that the universe is helping you’ then you mightjust start laughing. At the very least, if you don’t laugh, you will think the suggestion is silly andit won’t work. The only attitude that works in hypnosis is one of genuine interest & desire. All other attitudes make hypnosis fail.

WebMD: "Forget the stage-show stereotypes. Hypnosis has helped people cut back on pain, anxiety, and depression medications, resolve intestinal problems, quit smoking, even have less stressful childbirth. There's no pocket watch involved. Hypnosis is simply a state of concentration and focused attention -- focused on a mental image. It's a skill that must be learned from a trained therapist. With practice, hypnotizing yourself comes easily. Self-hypnosis is the path to training both mind and body to make a desired change."

So, what is hypnosis?

Hypnosis is being in a focused state of awareness – focused on suggestions and visualization– to a point where you can block all else out and focus on only one thing at a time. When you

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do this in a relaxed state with your mind locked on the ideas with genuine interest then you are connected directly to your subconscious mind and you can reprogram it.

In other words, you have ‘bypassed your critical factor’ to establish ‘acceptable selective thinking’.

Myths of hypnosis reiterated

Hypnosis is not sleep. You will be aware during the entire process. Most people believe hypnosis is a kind of subconscious state so they don’t believe they are in hypnosis when it happens.

Your mind can’t be controlled. You will not become a zombie. You can even lie under hypnosis.

When most people think of hypnosis they think of a creepy old man controlling the mind of an innocent person to do horrible things. This is a stereotype promoted by Hollywood movies andit even makes for some scary scenes in a movie but it has nothing to do with the reality of hypnosis.

The problem with the common perception of hypnosis has to do with it’s name, the opposition by the barbaric doctors of the 18th century, misconceptions created by stage hypnosis and inaccurate portrayals of hypnosis in movies. I am going to address each of these in turn so you get the full picture of what hypnosis really is and how it is different from mind control.

First lets begin with it’s name. In mid 1800's Dr. James Braid was experimenting with the techniques of hypnosis and he noticed that after his subjects followed his instructions they would be in a very relaxed state with their eyes closed. Since his subjects appeared to be asleep he decided to name the method ‘hypnosis’ after the Greek God of sleep ‘Hypnos’. Thisname spread rapidly. Later after questioning his subjects he discovered that although they were relaxed and their eyes were closed they were far from being asleep. In fact they were very aware and highly focused on everything he said. With this realization he decided to change the name to ‘mono-ideaism’. Mono meaning one and ideaism referring to the idea or suggestion his subject was focusing on. This name more accurately reflected the reality of thehypnotic process of how the subjects focused on what the hypnotists was saying. Unfortunately the name hypnosis had stuck and with it the misconception that hypnosis has something to do with sleep. It doesn’t.

This leads us to…

Hypnosis Misconception #1: Hypnosis is a sleep like state.

Reality is that hypnosis is a state of highly focused awareness.

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The hypnotic state is analogous to something called Dhayana which is the name of meditationin a system called Yoga. In the Yogic ‘Dhayanic Meditation’ the yogi focuses his or her mind entirely on an object or image. This exercise is meant to build concentration and still the thoughts of the mind. The Dhayanic meditation practice can be fairly hard for the novice practitioner as holding the mind still (on a single object/image) can be very difficult.

The hypnotized person is in a very similar state to the Dhayanic meditative state in that the mind is focused in one direction. The difference is that in Dhayanic meditation the practitioner has to exert a personal force of will on holding the mind steady on an object or image while in hypnosis the person just has to follow what the hypnotists if saying and focus only on the words of the hypnotist. That means that the hypnotist acts as a guide. Another difference is that instead of focusing the mind on just one image the subject is guided to focus his or her mind on a series of suggestions, thoughts and visualizations which helps a person create change in themselves. Much like a Dhayanic meditation but in a more dynamic way.

To restate this: In both Dhayanic meditation and hypnosis the person has a highly focused state of awareness. In Dhayanic meditation the awareness is focused on the chosen object/image. While in hypnosis awareness is focused on the words of the guide (hypnotist). In both cases the person has complete awareness, it’s just focused awareness.

The next big setback for hypnosis also happened in the 1800’s.

Dr. James Esdaile used hypnosis as preparation for his patients before surgery with a recovery rate that was unheard of in his time – and was comparable to recovery rates after the discovery of chloroform/ether.

What he did was conduct surgeries on prisoners in India, documenting them carefully. He ended up performing over 3000 surgeries with recovery rates of 95% while similar surgeries in England had a recovery rate of about 50%. What he did was have a lackey pass a metal plate over the patients body for about 2 days till the boredom put the patient into a deep trance. Then he would perform the surgery (even stuff like amputations!). He found that not only did the recovery rate go up to over 95% but post operation shock went down considerable as did blood loss! (now we know that hypnosis reduces shock and bleeding but back then this was revolutionary).

Dr. James Esdaile took his results back to England for review by his fellow doctors and was shocked by the feedback he got. Essentially the doctors in England formed a committee to analyze his results and decided that hypnosis shouldn’t be applied to English patients because, I quote ‘If God didn’t mean for people to suffer he wouldn’t have invented pain’. It’s possible that they were too lazy to do the methods of were just jealous of their colleagues results and didn’t want to give him any fame. Dr. James Esdaile, shocked and disappointed went back to India to carry on his work.

Surprisingly a year later chloroform/ether was discovered that made a patient unconscious during the operation, reduced bleeding and improved recovery rate (comparable to Dr. James

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Esdaile's results). For some reason ether/chloroform was not ignored using the same logic that ‘God meant for people to suffer’ apparently God had changed his mind about patient suffering. This was a big setback for the development of hypnosis techniques and was the an example of doctors setting back medical development for personal reasons.

After this setback hypnosis entered it’s dark ages. It was only the stage hypnotists that kept hypnosis alive over the next half century with their fancy and hyped up stage performances. In stage hypnosis it was discovered that with just a little encouragement many individuals would act incredibly silly thereby entertaining the entire crowd. This became a means of livelihood for several generations of stage hypnotists.

Stage hypnosis may seem to be a situation in which several members of the audience come under mind control but that is not the actual situation. The whole performance is an elaborate and very effective setup. What happens is that the stage hypnotist determines which members of the audience are most ready to follow along with the instructions (with a relaxation exercise as well as ‘suggestibility tests’). The people selected tend to be those whoare oppressed by their normal social roles and need a means of letting go. Just like people letgo of their inhibitions when drunk (i.e. alcohol reduces inhibition and becomes an excuse to act silly) in the same way they let go and act silly on stage with the excuse of being hypnotized.

It isn’t that simple but that is the basic idea of how stage hypnosis works. It’s an act and NOT mind control. To get the selected performers ready to follow the instructions of the stage hypnotist the individuals have to pass a series of tests. Relaxation, suggestibility and willingness to volunteer are a part of the process of selection –as well as creating an aura of expectation and convincing the stage performers that they are the ‘stars’ of the show. This increases the mental pressure (and willingness) on the volunteers to perform. The stage hypnosis performers are aware during the entire experience and can refuse any command that goes against their belief system. That is why a stage hypnotist will only ask the volunteers to do stuff that they would probably do if they were drunk anyways. And that’s how the whole stage hypnosis performance comes to be.

All of the above explanation is just to explain…

Hypnosis Misconception #2: Hypnosis is mind control and stage hypnosis shows mind control in action.

Truth: It’s a show based on a process with no mind control. Participants are aware throughoutand can reject any suggestion that doesn't fit their belief system.

Finally, hypnosis is used in Hollywood movies as a method of mind control to create interesting stories. No one has ever been controlled with hypnosis so the stories in the moviesare pure fantasy. However, images created by movies last – i.e. they create a strong impression – so many believe the movie hype even though there is nothing in the news mediato corroborate such stories.

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In summary the myths of hypnosis are as follows;

1. It’s mind control.

2. You are in a sleep-like state during hypnosis

3. You might lose control and reveal your secrets

4. You might not wake up

Myths 1 and 2 required an explanation of why this misconception came to be, which I have done.

Myths 3 and 4 are also wrong. Since you are aware during the entire process of hypnosis there is no question of ‘not waking up’. Your attention is simply very focused. If the hypnotist stops talking you will notice and simply open your eyes to see what’s going on. Also, since you are aware you have complete control over your mind – that means you can easily lie while in the state of hypnosis if you want to. It also means that that hypnosis can’t be used to make criminals tell the truth. There is simply no mind control involved.

The ONLY Attitude That Makes Hypnosis (or Self-Hypnosis) Work

Hypnosis isn’t ‘hit or miss’ nor is it a ‘sure thing’ or even ‘mind control’. Many people have used hypnosis to quit smoking or lose weight but not all have succeeded. If hypnosis was mind control or a sure thing then everyone would be helped by hypnosis. So that myth is easily dis-proven by personal observation of the people who have experienced hypnosis. Of course, this leads to the belief that some people are ‘hypnotizable’ and some aren’t so a hypnosis session will either work or not work. This isn’t true either. Hypnosis is simply a state of focused concentration. Everyone can focus their attention. So hypnosis (and self-hypnosis)will work every time providing the person has no misconceptions or fears of hypnosis (i.e. they know they will also be aware and their minds can’t be controlled) AND they have the rightattitude.

There is only one attitude that makes hypnosis and self-hypnosis work

That attitude is “I love this affirmation/suggestion and I want this change in myself’. If you focus your attention in a relaxed hypnotic state –with a genuine desire to achieve the change you are aiming for – then and only then can you re-program your subconscious mind with the new beliefs.

Three attitudes that block hypnosis and self-hypnosis from working

Don’t like the affirmation/suggestion – If you don’t like what you are hearing then, of course,

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you won’t want it to be a part of you. So it won’t. This is how it is in everyday waking life and how it is in hypnosis.

Neutrality – If you don’t care whether a particular affirmation/suggestion works or not then youhave a neutral perspective. If you are neutral then you don’t have enough desire to make the change a part of you. So it won’t work.

You ‘hope’ it works – If you like what you’re hearing and want it to be a part of how you see and deal with life, BUT don’t really believe you can do it, then it won’t work. You may hope that you could make the particular change you heard in the affirmation/suggestion but you don’t believe it.

Suggestions and Suggestibility

Suggestibility is often misunderstood as gullibility. Gullibility is being naïve or easily fooled. Suggestibility is the ability to absorb new ideas and can be correlated with a high IQ. That means that smarter people with good imaginations tend to be less gullible and more suggestible.

A good leader is someone who is highly suggestible. The good leader will absorb all the ideas/solutions presented to him/her and then make a decision based on what is right for the situation if they already have the knowledge to know which suggestions are right and which are wrong. If the leader needs to learn more before deciding then all suggestions will remain on his/her mind until he/she can eliminate the ones that research don’t confirm. Being suggestible has nothing to do with mind control.

A gullible person will accept all suggestions without any investigation.

Being suggestible is not only a sign of intelligence but it shows your imagination is strong as well. Being 100% suggestible means that you can absorb new ideas easily – with fear or doubt – and then you can sort the false from the true and take action accordingly. So being highly suggestible is a very desirable trait for success.

In hypnosis suggestions are made for changing habits or ideas or even beliefs. These suggestions are absorbed into the subconscious mind. Anything that doesn’t fit with a person’s knowledge base will be rejected. That is why hypnotist’s make many suggestions in each session so that at least 15-20% of the suggestions make it through to the subconscious mind so at least some change takes place. It’s also why you need several hypnosis sessions for serious problems and have to work with your hypnotists to tailor the suggestions to your liking.

Stage Hypnosis Suggestibility

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Many stage hypnotists do imagination exercises before a stage show to determine which audience members are highly suggestible. If the person follows the imagination exercises properly (and meet some other criteria such as desire for attention) then a stage hypnotist willnote these individuals to call on for the show. Ask most participants in a stage hypnosis show and they will tell you that they were aware of what the hypnotist said and felt motivated to follow along. If the stage hypnotist had said something that went against any individuals beliefs or values then the suggestions wouldn’t work. That is why stage hypnotists stick with silly suggestions like barking like a dog or clucking like a chicken as it is something any person would do when having fun with friends. Best part is that being on stage and ‘under control of a hypnotist’ gives a person an excuse to let go and act crazy. Many people are repressed or big attention seekers and these people are easy to notice and make perfect volunteers for a stage show. A stage hypnotist preselects volunteers through imagination exercises and body language long before any volunteers are asked to come on stage. Only the ones who showed the right character type for a stage show are selected from the raised hands of the volunteers.

Hypnosis Is A Normal Everyday State for Everyone

I have covered what hypnosis is i.e. a state of highly focused attention. Now I am going to show that being in a state of focused attention (i.e. hypnosis) is a normal everyday experiencefor all human beings.

To begin with in almost all activities that you engage in you have to be in a state of focused attention to accomplish that activity.

When you drive a car you are in a state of focused attention (or you should be for safe driving).

When you are reading a book you are in a state of focused attention. How involved you are in the book also indicates how –highly- focused your attention is. If the book is exciting or romantic and you are on the edge of your seat or feeling romantic then you are in a state of highly focused attention towards the book and your emotions are being guided by the words of the author who is acting as ‘hypnotist’.

The same thing happens when you are involved in a movie (or TV show). You laugh, cry or get nervous and excited depending on what is going on in the movie. If you are bored with themovie then you won’t get involved with the story but if your attention is highly focused on the story (i.e. you are involved with the movie) then you will experience it as if it were real.

In the language of hypnosis the extent to which you are focused indicates your ‘depth of trance’. If you are not involved in the book or movie then you don’t move emotionally with the story which means that you have a light state of trance. If you are heavily involved of focused on the book or movie you are in a deep state of trance.

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Calling a trance state ‘light’ of ‘deep’ is simply hypnosis lingo for how highly focused your state of mind is at your current activity.

You can actually say that hypnosis is a state of mind that everyone goes in and out of throughout the day. A few more examples will make this clear.

When you are daydreaming and therefore oblivious to what’s going on around you or even if someone called your name then you are highly focused on your imagination. That’s a hypnotic trance.

When you are feeling love, such as when you are in love, then your mind is focused on romantic thoughts and you even feel love towards everyone you meet. You are in a hypnotic trance (highly focused attention).

In the angry and loving examples your hypnotic trance is an emotional one based on a few thoughts that you are currently engaged in.

In these cases your hypnotic trance is self-created – i.e. your thoughts guide you to feel what you do. While in the examples of the book and movie you are guided by the writer and actors to feel what you do.

That is the difference between hypnosis and self-hypnosis. In self-hypnosis your focus is internal and you choose what to focus on and that creates your hypnotic trance. In hypnosis your focus is guided by a person (like a book or movie) and that external guidance creates your hypnotic trance.

By these examples I have shown that being in states of highly focused attention is a normal part of everyday experience for all human beings. I’m sure you can think of many more examples of states of highly focused attention involving sports, work, learning or talking to friends all of which are different states of focused attention. All of these states are different types of hypnotic trances.

In other words hypnosis is a part of everyday life. The only reason people think it is somethingdifferent than what they experience everyday is the terminology (i.e. words used to describe the experiences). This terminology makes hypnosis seem like something mysterious. Hypnosis is not only not mysterious it is something that we are all masters of and experience everyday.

A basic course in hypnosis, a good way to continue learning, can be found on youtube, for example this one.

What Is Mind Control?

Many people often think that hypnosis can used to control minds. I have already shown that

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hypnosis cannot control minds.

The question that invariably arises in everyone’s mind is whether mind control possible at all? If so how? The answer lies in emotional manipulation.

Mind control can be done in 2 ways; with authority and fear.

If you are told something by someone whose authority you simply cannot question then youwill believe what you are told without any investigation or skepticism. That is a form of mind control.

Here are 2 examples;

Your religious leader interprets a verse of your holy book and you believe the interpretation given to you without seeking to understand it yourself then that is a form of mindcontrol.

Your political leader tells you what he/she thinks is the reality of a situation and you believe it without question or investigation. This is also a form of mind control. – This can also manifest in a different way. You may not trust your country's political leader but you do trust the political views of favorite talk show host or news channel. If you believe what your news channel host tells you without question or investigation, once again you are under the influence of mind control.

In short mind control through authority works if any view an authority figure is accepted without question or investigation. Note: Getting angry at a point of view isn’t questioning/investigating the view it is ‘reacting emotionally’ to a viewpoint.

The next way of mind control is through fear.

If someone points a gun at you and commands you to lay down and you do (which is thesensible thing to do). That is instant mind control through fear. This is a more overt form of mind control but just as effective. Works just as well if a big country points a big weapon at a small country (big in land or military might).

If a political or religious leader paints another group of people as evil and that they will destroy you then they have a twofold mind control effect. First there is the fear of the ‘evil’ group and the fear that they will be attacked by the ‘evil group’. Then there is the authority effect of believing the leader with little or no investigation.

Fear combined with authority to issue commands and orders is the most powerful method of controlling minds as the authority removes the ability to question and the fear spurs the sheep to action. Perfect mind control.

Hypnosis by itself is just a state of highly focused attention and if any suggestions are

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made that go against the subject’s belief system then the person will snap out of it.

If a state of highly focused attention is created with fear and authority then the situation is markedly different. A person will naturally want to avoid the object of fear – often without question whether the fear is justified – and then turn to an authority figure for guidance. If the authority figure lacks morals then we have a dangerous situation of mass mind control.

With a hypnotist a person is already a little wary because of the popular conception of hypnosis as mind control. This wariness makes it impossible to exert the level of authority and/or fear needed for mind control. With a trusted authority figure there is no caution and suggestions/ideas/beliefs can be installed directly into the subject's unconscious.

Also, a person with authority and the ability to induce fear in his/her subjects has no need for the techniques and knowledge of hypnosis. Techniques of influence are not needed when you can shut down the ability to reason with a simple statement.

In other words, your strong emotions can be used by others with rhetoric. These people can be honourable or dishonourable in nature. An honourable one is like a good teacher who helps you get started on a career. A dishonourable one is like a politician who lies for his and his buddies benefit.

Here is a look how influential your emotions really are in your decision making process leaving many opportunities for mind control for those who know how;

The Emotional Nature Of Decision Making

Strong emotions have a tendency to be blinding... or at the very least, strong emotion interferes with your ability to analyse all the available information properly. For example; falling in love makes people funny and anger can cloud judgement to a point where a person can get in allot of trouble (same applies to getting swept away by any emotion including a sense of power or influence. That’s why there is that adage “Power corrupts and abolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Study: Emotion rules the brain's decisions By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY

Research into organizational decision making has shown a similar result...

Toxic Decision Processes: A Study of Emotion and Organizational Decision Making Organizational research has increasingly recognized the emotional nature of organizations and organizational life. We now widely accept organizations as "emotional arenas" and acknowledge the emotionally saturated nature of people’s work experience. Even decision-making research, one of the most cognitively oriented domains of organizational behavior,

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shows a growing concern for the role of emotion. The emotionality of organizational decision processes can be very subtle, as in many highly routinized decisions, while other issues provoke intensely emotional decision processes. Potential mergers, acquisitions, and downsizing, for instance, can have dramatic effects on how employees feel about themselvesand their organizations; knowing this can have significant impact on the way these decisions are made. - Toxic Decision Processes: A Study of Emotion and Organizational Decision Making

Given how emotions affect our decision making it's obvious that the more balanced our emotions are the better our decision making skills will be. This approach is addressed in the concept of Emotional Intelligence in basic psychology. The following gives an outline of this approach...

Emotional Intelligence:

"All learning has an emotional base." - Plato

What Is Emotional Intelligence? Definitions, History, and Measures of Emotional Intelligence -By Kendra Cherry, About.com Guide

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while others claim it is an inborn characteristic.

1. Perceiving Emotions: The first step in understanding emotions is to accurately perceive them. In many cases, this might involve understanding nonverbal signals such as body language and facial expressions.

2. Reasoning With Emotions: The next step involves using emotions to promote thinking and cognitive activity. Emotions help prioritize what we pay attention and react to; we respond emotionally to things that garner our attention.

3. Understanding Emotions: The emotions that we perceive can carry a wide variety of meanings. If someone is expressing angry emotions, the observer must interpret the cause oftheir anger and what it might mean. For example, if your boss is acting angry, it might mean that he is dissatisfied with your work; or it could be because he got a speeding ticket on his way to work that morning or that he's been fighting with his wife.

4. Managing Emotions: The ability to manage emotions effectively is a key part of emotional intelligence. Regulating emotions, responding appropriately and responding to the emotions of others are all important aspect of emotional management.

Note: The idea that emotional intelligence could be only inborn and not have anything to do with life experiences seems to contradict the idea that environment has any effect on

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behaviour. However, rather than arguing that point in this general article, I thought I would justpoint out that even simple changes in environment can change our emotional outlook and therefore our decision making.

For example:

The following study looks at how a little emotional indulgence in luxury can skew decision making...

"Luxury-primed individuals tend to make decisions that are self-interested and arguably unethical." A second, word-association experiment suggested that luxury does not necessarily induce "nasty" behavior toward others, but more indifference toward them. The findings are sure to touch a nerve in an era of mega-sized corporate bonuses and the parallelcurrency of limousines, private jets and other pricey perks. After all, it was John Thain's lavish$1.2 million office renovation, including an infamous $35,000 antique commode, that is remembered more than his salary in the final days of the brokerage firm Merrill Lynch. The researchers said that, in practical terms, the same business meeting could reach different decisions when held at a fancy resort as opposed to in a modest conference room. "Working in a business setting surrounded by money and luxuries might well have an effect on cognition and decision making," said Chua and Zou. "Perhaps limiting corporate excesses and luxuries might indeed be a step toward getting executives to behave more responsibly.”- Rueters

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What is Self-Hypnosis?

Once you understand hypnosis you will see that all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis. The audio-videos here contain suggestions and affirmations but it is up to your to focus on them and want the change. Going to a hypnotist is more involved and depending on the expertise of the hypnotist you will almost always be able to experience hypnosis and self-hypnosis properly. If you haven't done hypnosis before then you need to practice relaxing deeply while saying affirmations to yourself and doing positive visualizations. The audio-videos on this website are perfect for learning how to use self-hypnosis with skill as the binaural beats guide you to a deeply relaxed state which helps you focus and the suggestions guide you on the path of proper selective thinking. This is also the sort of selective thinking that you should make a part of your 'self-talk' as how you think about yourself and the stuff you say to yourselfis also a form of self-hypnosis.

Self Hypnosis

If we are to compare hypnosis with meditation we find that the main difference between meditation and self-hypnosis is that meditation tends to be passive while hypnosis is goal oriented. For example in meditation you are focused on just your breathing or chanting/mantra or a peaceful image or physical relaxation or nothing at all. While in hypnosisand self-hypnosis you are focusing on suggestions and visualizations for self-improvement. Inmy meditation system you use visualizations, i.e. guided meditation, which is the same as self-hypnosis)

How To Do Self-Hypnosis (A simple 5 minute technique that requires no training, just regular practice):

In short, if you combine positive suggestions and visualization with a meditative practice you are doing self-hypnosis.

A more professional self-hypnosis meditation track will have relaxation instructions, suggestions and visualizations. A basic self-hypnosis track has the format of the following audio1;

Self Hypnosis: Mental Enhancement Audio

The above audio uses binaural beats, as explained in the introduction to meditation (available on my site), for relaxation to make the session more effective. Works best

1 Made using a private label software previously available from sharm.com

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with headphones. Please don't drive or operate machinery while listening to this relaxation inducing audio.

Some more tips;

To attain a proper state for self-hypnosis you have to stop your analytic mind (your thoughts and doubts) something which occurs naturally in meditation. Deep relaxation helps remove extraneous thoughts and allows you better focus. So relaxation is an important part of both hypnosis and self hypnosis. Once you are relaxed and focused you are in a state of ‘hypnosis’. You will be awake and aware as you don’t lose consciousness or fall asleep. Sleepis useless for hypnosis and self-hypnosis. You have to be aware and focused.

Your conscious mind also has a role to play. Consciously you have to adopt the attitude, “I love this affirmation/suggestion and I know I can make this a part of how I see the world”. While you are in your state of relaxed focused attention – with the attitude of “I love this” – youare reprogramming your subconscious mind.

Of course, many negative beliefs programmed in your subconscious mind have been there foryears. This means you may have to do self-hypnosis several times before you successfully reprogram your subconscious mind permanently.

If you have a conscious attitude that is anything other than “I love this affirmation/suggestion/visualization” then no hypnosis method will work. In other words if you don’t like the affirmation/suggestion or it makes you uncomfortable or you don’t really care about it or you ‘hope’ it works but you don’t believe it will then you will not be able to do any subconscious reprogramming.

Since you are aware of everything that is said to you (when doing hypnosis), anything the hypnotist says that you don’t like or don’t believe in will get ignored by your subconscious mind. That is why self-hypnosis can be so effective. You choose what you want to focus on that fits what you want and how you see the world. In other words, you can tailor a self-hypnosis session in any way you desire.

The main difference between meditation and self-hypnosis is that meditation tends to be passive while hypnosis is goal oriented. For example in meditation you are focused on just your breathing or chanting or an image. While in hypnosis you are focusing on suggestions and visualizations for self-improvement.

That means that if you combine positive suggestions and visualization in a meditative state you are doing a form of self-hypnosis. Thus self hypnosis is a form of meditation.

This makes hypnosis kinda like manipulating meditative states for constructive means and self hypnosis the skill of choosing your meditative states at will. Thus the better your meditative state and understanding of the mind the less likely you will be fooled by any

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manipulative trick of the mind.

Your Subconscious Mind

Everything you have experienced in your life is recorded in your subconscious mind. If I were to ask you what is 4 plus 4 you would answer eight. That’s your conscious mind. If I ask you what you had for lunch 6 weeks ago you won’t have any conscious recollection of it.

However, your subconscious mind will remember in perfect detail. When you are driving you are probably thinking about many things. Everybody does. Many people love to drive when thinking just like some people prefer walking. If you are driving and thinking about work or your weekend plans then what part of you is paying attention to driving? The answer is your subconscious mind. If there is an obstacle your subconscious mind will make you step on the brake before you can make any conscious decision.

Everyone has experienced being so deep in thought that they don’t remember the turns they took to get to their destination. You drove the entire distance guided by your subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind doesn’t think. That is a function of your conscious mind. Your subconscious mind just reacts based on the information stored in it. If you are feeling cold while sleeping or need to go to the bathroom then your subconscious mind will wake you up. When you learn something new you have to pay conscious attention. For example, when learning to drive a car you first have to be conscious of the gas pedal, the brake, the distance between you and the other cars, the lights etc. Once you have learned to drive then this knowledge becomes a part of your subconscious mind and you just drive.

The subconscious is like a vast storehouse of your knowledge and beliefs. If you hear something negative about yourself, while growing up (or as an adult), and accept it as true then that will be stored in your subconscious mind as a belief about yourself. For example if your teacher said things to you like, “Why are you so stupid” or “You just don’t have a brain in your head” or “You will never succeed or make anything of yourself” and you believed her then those beliefs about yourself are part of your subconscious mind. Since your subconscious mind acts on what it knows you will be insecure about your intelligence for the rest of your life – unless you change your negative beliefs into positive ones. Consciously believing yourself to be intelligent will not work as your subconscious mind has been programmed. This means that your subconscious will sabotage your efforts in areas where you have negative beliefs involved.

Meditation, hypnosis and self-hypnosis are the most effective means to change your subconscious programming.

Affirmations for Self-Hypnosis

One way to help you switch your internal dialogue from negative to a positive one is to

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practice affirmations.

Affirmations are used commonly in many self-help books and has become a staple of modernbusiness life for several decades. Yet it is still an underused method in our time. Using affirmations is easy and regular use can serve as a reminder to you to think positive thoughts.

Affirmations can become even more effective when you use them in self-hypnosis. Just go to your meditative state and repeat your chosen affirmations to reprogram your subconscious giving you a boost in whatever self-improvement category you are focusing on.

The rule of thumb in using affirmations is to focus your affirmation on what you want NOT on what you don’t want.

If you say, ‘I don’t want to feel angry’ you are doing a negative affirmation. Notice that you are creating a thought or mental image of being angry in this affirmation. The result will be that your anger will stay the same of increase.

Instead of saying, ‘I don’t want to be angry’, say ‘I am feeling calm and peaceful’. Notice how you create the mental image of being calm and peaceful just by saying those words. Also notice you are saying the affirmation in the present, i.e. ‘I am’ feeling a certain way. Not ‘I will’ because that assumes the calm and peacefulness will come to you in the future and not now.

You can make the affirmation even more effective by stating it from the present into the future such as ‘I am feeling more and more calm and peaceful everyday and in everyway’. Notice how this focuses your mind on continuing to feel calm and peaceful into the future and creates the intention of increasing the calm and peace you want to feel.

The following are some affirmations you can use. When you make your own affirmations make sure you model them on the ones listed here or on the ones in the videos on this website.

‘I am feeling more and more confident’

‘Everyday and in everyway I and feeling better and better and better’

‘It is getting easier and easier for me to exercise regularly’etc.

These are the rules for phrasing your own affirmations:

Frame your sentences in positive words If you say “I will not be angry” then your mind is focused on an image of anger. The sentence is framed in the negative. Instead say “I am feeling calm and peaceful” this focuses the mind on the positive state you want to be in and takes you in that direction.

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Focus on the present tense If you focus on your affirmation to be about the here and now it will be more effective. For example: Don’t say “I will feel calm” as it refers to the future. Instead say “I am feeling calm” as it refers to the present.

Be specific and use detail If you want the muscles in your leg to relax say “The muscles in myleg are getting more and more relaxed”. By specific you affirm exactly what you want. You don’t need to make an affirmation short or long. Just figure out the positive state you want andsay it in positive words in as much detail as you like.

Use simple, emotionally stimulating words By phrasing your affirmations using words that are exciting is more effective than using bland words. For example: you could say “I am feeling more and more relaxed” and it would be effective. You can take the same concept and make it more stimulating by adding more descriptive words and it will be even more effective. For example: “I am feeling calmer and more peaceful with every breath I take making it easier andeasier for me to handle any stressful situation with an alert and calm state of mind”

Repeat your affirmations often By saying affirmations you are focusing your mind on a positive state. However, negative states of mind (or thoughts) have been there longer as we tend to think negative thoughts more. So for an affirmation to work effectively it has to be repeated often so it can take the place of the negative state.

Making affirmations even more effective Affirmations can be enhanced with meditation and self-hypnosis. Simply by repeating the affirmation/mantra/thought while you are practicing a proper meditation technique makes it a tool of self-hypnosis or mind expansion or both.

A basic self-hypnosis track;

Self Hypnosis: Mental Enhancement Audio

The above audio uses binaural beats, as explained in the introduction to meditation (available on my site), for relaxation to make the session more effective. Works best with headphones. Please don't drive or operate machinery while listening to this relaxation inducing audio.

Self Talk and Self Hypnosis

I’ve covered how hypnosis is a part of everyday reality. If you watch a movie it’s the equivalentof hypnosis as you are guided to experience the story. On the other hand if you are thinking a particular set of thoughts, such as angry or happy thoughts then you are doing self-hypnosis as your thoughts guide your emotional state.

Now I’m going to focus on self-talk as self-hypnosis to put another perspective of how hypnosis works.

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In other words how you talk to yourself in your head – the thoughts you think – also create how you feel. In these instances you are doing self-hypnosis.

If you do a lot of negative thinking then you will create a lot of negative feelings in yourself. If you do positive thinking then you will create positive feelings in yourself. You are basically doing self-hypnosis all the time.

Suppose you encounter a problem and your thoughts are something like this:

“Another problem! Why does this always happen to me. If people would just listen to me then these problems wouldn’t happen. It’s so irritating to have this problem interfering with my plans today” and so on.

What you are doing in this case is negative self talk. In other words you are doing bad self-hypnosis.

In the same way if a friend of yours is upset and tells you about their problem like this;

“You know how when problems start and you feel helpless and you don’t know what to do andits as if everything is falling apart…”

Then the friend’s negative conversation will create a negative effect on you (notice how saying ‘you know when’ makes you relate that other person’s negative experience to yourself). Of course it will only happen if you are following along and sympathizing with what you are being told. You will feel the negativity from your friend and you will feel bad.

In the above situation your friend has unintentionally done bad or negative hypnosis on you.You probably get the idea by now.

Being in a negative environment, talking to yourself in negative terms (i.e. negative self talk) and having depressing conversation will all put you in a bad mood.

In other words you become highly focused on a negative perspective. This is the same as being hypnotized in a negative manner.

The reverse is also true.

If you ever encounter a problem and think,

“Oh a difficult situation! That’s OK. I can handle this like I’ve dealt with other negative situations in the past. I’ll just take a deep breath and imagine a peaceful scene, like a beautiful day at the beach. Now I am relaxed and ready to deal with the situation.”

Notice how the focus of your mind is on a positive perspective. You become highly focused on

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a positive outlook to a problem you are faced with. In this case you are doing positive self-talkor positive self-hypnosis.

Same applies to a conversation. If a person is upbeat and happy when talking to you and uses encouraging words, creating positive or empowering images – and you are following along. Then this conversation is effectively good hypnosis.

Talking to a person is very similar to hypnosis. Some categorize it as conversational hypnosis.Learning how to talk in a way that both improves your own inner dialogue and how you talk with others makes you a good conversational hypnotist. If you are unaware of the power of words then you may do bad conversational hypnosis without even knowing it.

Keeping all the ideas here in mind you realize how powerful your mind can be on your emotional states. Simply switching the focus of your mind and your thoughts from negative to positive will change you entire outlook and thus your emotional state of being.

When you have understood the processes of hypnosis and self-hypnosis and done some practice you will be able to do self-hypnosis anytime, anywhere providing you with greater control over your life and your interactions with others.

In other words, self-talk is your internal dialogue which influences your emotional states and isa form of self-hypnosis.

Creating A Positive/Happy/Peaceful Frame Of Mind

If you think angry thoughts then chemicals will be released by the brain into your body that make you feel angry. Thinking pleasant thoughts would make you feel good.

Sometimes we have a tendency to think more negative thoughts particularly in negative situations, which makes us more stressed out. Learning to refocus our thoughts on a positive perspective not only reduces stress but also makes us more able to deal with the stressful situation we are faced with.

Affirmations are a useful tool that can be used to focus the mind on positive thoughts. Saying “I can handle this situation with a peaceful and alert mind” is a positive affirmation. Or if you get angry then thinking of how this situation has given you an opportunity to become better at releasing anger creates a perspective that is positive in that you gain control of your emotions. You could make up an affirmation for an angry situation like a traffic jam such as “I feel calm in this traffic situation and I have more time to think pleasant thoughts and listen to music”.

“People with positive attitudes generally enjoy life more, but are they any healthier? The answer is often "yes." Optimism is a resource for healing. Optimists are more likely to overcome pain and adversity in their efforts to improve their medical treatment outcomes.”

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from “Positive Thinking” on Web MD

If you think positive thoughts around a habit what you want to change, such as bad eating habits or an addiction such as smoking, then you will develop good habits... and ultimately lose weight and/or quit smoking. In other words, affirmations, around what you want, is a proven method of achieving various kinds of goals.

Principles Of The Mind For Self-Hypnosis (With The Example Of Stress Management)

"Your body responds to your thoughts, emotions, and actions." from “Positive Thinking” on Web MD

1. Every Thought Effects The Body

Years of scientific study have proven conclusively that the mind and body are interrelated. In afeature in Time Magazine it is written, "Not only is the mind like the rest of the body, but the well-being of one is intimately intertwined with that of the other. This makes sense because they share the same systems? nervous, circulatory, endocrine and immune. What happens in the pancreas or liver can directly affect brain function. Disorders of the brain, conversely, can send out biochemical shock waves that disturb the rest of the body. "The article is called "YourMind, Your Body" published in the issue dated Sunday, Jan. 12, 2003.

Since your mind does affect your body, which means it influences chemicals that are releasedin to your body, you can reduce your stress with JUST your mind. Remember, every thought affects the body as well.

It is important to become aware of your thoughts. If you are thinking negative thoughts then your brain is releasing chemicals, which are sustaining negative emotions in your body. All negative emotions have a bad effect on your mind-body in the long run. So, regular stressful thoughts WILL make your immune system weaker and your body will experience the negativeeffects of stress. Catch yourself when you are thinking negative thoughts and you have made a good positive first step. Direct your mind on to a positive outlook and you have taken the second step needed to directing your thoughts in a way that will reduce your stress.

How can you create a positive outlook? By focusing on a positive aspect of the situation you are faced with.

For example; If you have to clean a whole sink of dirty dishes it can seem like a lot of boring work. However, if you focus on how the dishes will look when they are cleaned and put away band how good YOU will feel about it at that time, THEN you are focusing on a positive outcome. If you keep in mind that you thoughts will affect your body then you can learn to keep watch on your thoughts. By keeping your thoughts positive or at least neutral, you keep yourself fresher and more energized.

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In conclusion, if you focus on a positive outcome, the task you are doing will become easier and therefore less stressful. Learning to manage your thoughts and focusing on the positive inany given situation is an extremely important stress management skill.

2. Imagination Is Stronger Than Knowledge

We all know that ghosts do not exist, at least most of us do. Yet when sitting around a campfire and listening to ghost stories most of us, even strong unbelievers in the supernatural, will get spooked. This is not because the people around the campfire suddenly became believers in ghosts but because our imagination overcame our knowledge and released the chemicals in our body that goes with fear. Our imagination trumped our knowledge.

Most of our stress occurs before the actual event that is supposed to cause stress. For example, if there is a presentation that you have to give to your office or class, it will cause most people a good deal of stress way before the actual presentation.

However, if you suddenly discover that you are moving to a different office or school and your upcoming presentation doesn't matter anymore, then suddenly the stress you were feeling willdecrease tremendously. This means that your experience of stress before the actual event was dictated by your perception. i.e. by your imagination.

In dealing with any event, how you imagine it to be will influence your levels of stress. You may know there is nothing to worry about when the boss or principal calls you to his or her office. Yet your imagination will often provide you with reasons to feel stressed.

Imagination always trumps knowledge.

You can use this knowledge about the power of your imagination to your advantage. If your imagination can create imagery in your head that creates a stress response, you can also do the opposite.

Imagine your presentation going smoothly or that the audience is indifferent to you and will forget you as soon as you leave the stage, then your stress will decrease. If you enjoy talking to a crowd then just imagine yourself having fun and being in tune with your audience without being too caught up in their reaction(takes some of the pressure off).

Imagine yourself relaxing on the beach while you are waiting to talk to your boss and this will help you stay relaxed. You will also have more of your mental resources available to you to tackle a problem if that is that you have been called for.

Imagination may be stronger than knowledge yet imagination can be brought under your control in many situations. So, knowledge of the power of your imagination can be empowering for you if you apply this knowledge to the proper circumstances. This will

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decrease your stress in most situations you will encounter.

3. What You Expect Tends To Be Realized

Many of us will make up in the morning not wanting to wake up. Breakfast may not be good orwe find ourselves in the middle of morning traffic. This is enough to make us feel like it is going to be a bad day. So it is. Everything that can be seen in a negative light IS seen that way.

If you start the day genuinely saying, "I feel wonder, relaxed and refreshed," and maintain thisattitude then the minor inconveniences of the day will bounce off your skin as if they are trivial, which, from a perspective, they are.

"As you sow, so shall you reap," says the famous bible verse. So to keep yourself in a state ofmind where most stressful events will bounce off your skin all you have to do is maintain a positive attitude and positive expectations. Of course don't overdo the positive expectations. Just say and feel like, 'no matter what happens it is a part of your day and you can deal with iteasily'. This will keep you relaxed and poised (i.e. emotional waves don't become a habitual pose, going from high to low, a good stress management tactic).

There is an old story that might be appropriate here.

There was a farmer whose horse ran away. All his neighbors came by to say how sorry they were at his misfortune. All he said was, "We shall see". Next, his horse returns fallen by a group of wild horses. His neighbors congratulate on his good fortune and the farmer once again says, "We shall see". Then his son falls off the same horse and breaks his leg. The neighbors once again exclaim at his misfortune and once again he says, "We shall see". In a few days the army comes by collecting young men for a war. The farmer's son was ignored ashis leg was broken. His neighbors congratulate him and all he says is, "We shall see".

Notice that in this story every event of the day or week did not make the farmer giddy with happiness or depressed at having a bad day. He maintained an open positive attitude and didn't let the events of the day get to him. Of course this may seem a little extreme to some but you get the idea.

In conclusion, if you expect yourself to handle a given situation with ease then your stress will decrease. If you expect yourself to handle a situation with difficulty but still able to come out fine then your stress levels will also stay down. If you take every event of the day or week as something extremely important, bad or good, that too will increase your stress. What you expect will create your day around you.

4. What You Resist The Most Stays With You

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Have you noticed that when you try to avoid something it keeps happening? For example, youcould be saying to yourself that you will not get angry over a traffic jam but you still do. Or maybe you are trying not to yawn so you don't give off the impression of getting bored, but often you fine that you need to yawn almost nonstop.

If you imagine something stressful you feel stressed. For example; imagine having to wake upextra early to attend a seminar or having to work through a 10 mile traffic jam. On the other hand, if you imagine something relaxing you feel relaxed for example; imagine laying back on the beach or a picnic in a park. This aspect of how your mind works make it clear that the images you have on your mind will influence your mind body system.

When you are trying very hard to resist something, then what you are resisting will be on your mind. i.e. You have to keep an image or thought in your mind of what you are resisting to be able to resist it. If you don't do this then you won't know what you are trying to resist. So by the very act of resisting an idea or thought you end up keeping it on your mind so what you resist must stay with you.

Here is another example; Imagine that you meet a person who says to you that he/she will give you a $1000 if you don't think of a pink elephant all day. Of course, this is a really weird thing for anyone to say and I'm sure you don't spend your time thinking of something as random as a pink elephant. However, trying to resist that image of a pink elephant with a thousand dollars on the line would be almost impossible. Once again, what you resist tends tostay with you.

To apply this to stress management just realize that if you are trying very hard to resist something that may cause you stress then you end up feeling more stress in relation to it. Instead, what you need to do is practice an alternative form that you find relaxing.

Instead of resisting something, accept it and focus on something more appropriate. This will help you deal with stress better in all aspects of your life.

A little rehash of some background on hypnosis:

There are many misconceptions about hypnosis, what it does and what you can do with it.

So, first I would like to make it clear that hypnosis is not sleep. In fact in the hypnotic state your alertness and awareness is heightened not decreased.

The reason that hypnosis is often associated with sleep is because of a misnaming by Dr. James Braid in 1841.

Dr. Braid experimented hypnosis methods on several patients and noticed that the people would also go into a very relaxed state and since their eyes were closed it looked that they were fact asleep. So he named the state after the Greek God of sleep Hypnos (from which

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the word ‘hypnosis’ derives).

Later Dr. Braid realized that although his subjects were very relaxed they were aware of his every word. In fact they were completely focused on his words. So they were in a state of focused attention. When he realized this he tried to change the name to ‘mono-ideasism’. ‘Mono’ means one and ‘ideaism’ refers to the meaning of what was being said i.e. the idea/suggestion/visualization/ of what to focus on)

However, the name hypnosis had caught on and non one was willing to change it. So we are stuck with the name hypnosis.

In yoga there is a technique called ‘Dhayana’ which is a form of meditation to help the yogi focus his or her mind. The technique involves focusing your mind on one image or object and maintaining that focus for a long period of time. Hypnosis is exactly like dhayanic meditation in that you focus your mind. The difference is that instead of focusing on an object or image you focus on the words of the hypnotist and follow the images and suggestions that the wordsconvey. So it is actually easier than dhayanic meditation as the depth of your focus is partially dependent on the skill of the hypnotist (and partly dependent on your own comfort level and trust in the hypnotist guiding you).

The second thing to be clear about is that hypnosis is not mind control.

The main reason that people believe they can be controlled with hypnosis is because of its portrayal in movies.

Stage hypnosis is also a culprit as it uses suggestions to entertain a crowd with carefully selected people who, consciously or unconsciously, want to be the center of attention. Every person hypnotized in a stage hypnosis show is fully aware and can refuse a suggestion if theywant to at any time.

For any hypnosis session to be effective certain conditions must be met:

First – you must get along with your hypnotist. If you don’t like the person then obviously you will not be comfortable listening to suggestions.

Second – in the hypnotic state your awareness is focused on the words of the hypnotist. That means that the hypnotist is your guide. You have to follow everything that is said instantly.

Third – You must have a positive mental attitude about the suggestions you are hearing That means you have to want/love the suggestions and want the change that the suggestions represent. If you have any discomfort at a suggestion, it won’t work. If you don’t really care about a particular suggestion then it won’t work.

If you like the suggestion and don’t really believe you can follow it then it won’t work. In other words the only attitude that makes hypnosis or even self-hypnosis work is the attitude “I love

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this visualization/suggestion and this will work”.

Remember you are completely aware during hypnosis no matter how relaxed or focused your mind is. That means that hypnosis is a 100% consent state at all times. You can’t get stuck in a hypnotic trance because the continuation of the hypnotic state is dependent on your focus on the words of your hypnotist. If the hypnotist were to stop speaking then you would start wondering “whats going on?” and you would open your eyes to take a look. In other words, you don’t need a hypnotist to tell you the session is over or to open your eyes – you can do soat any time you want.

To repeat what I wrote before, hypnosis is like dhayanic meditation in that it’s a state of focused attention. That means you don’t go ‘deeper’ into hypnotic trance, you become more and more focused on the words and instructions of the hypnotist. You will be more aware of everything said to you and will have the capacity to reject any instructions you don’t like as you are not asleep but in a state of focused attention.

Being in a state of ‘hypnosis’ or ‘focused attention’ is something everybody experiences everyday!

When you are absorbed in watching your favorite sports team, reacting to each success with joy and each loss with sorrow, you are in a state of focused attention or hypnosis.

When you are absorbed in watching a movie, laughing at funny situations or crying at sad ones, you are in a state of focused attention or hypnosis.

Being absorbed in a good book is also a state of focused attention or hypnosis. Also, the more books you read, fiction & non-fiction, the more types trances you are able to handle.

In other words, knowledge and information can make you flexible, i.e. if you know enough fields of information for a large perspective. A large perspective, ceteris paribus, always trumps a small perspective.

Other examples include TV, concentrating while studying or at work, learning a new skill, paying attention in class, driving a car while daydreaming etc.

In other words being in a state of hypnosis is not only normal but an everyday occurrence. Switching from having focused attention on one activity to another is the same as a shift in type of ‘hypnotic trance’ . It is just the word ‘hypnosis’ with its historical and media based misconceptions that suggest that it is something other than a normal state of consciousness i.e. what everyone experiences everyday.

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Introduction To Nuero Linguistic Programming (NLP) & The 5 Minute Phobia Cure”

One of the methods that can help with education, training, coaching, business and stress management is called NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). Developed by John Grinder and Richard Bandler.

NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming which is a fancy way of saying 'what words andmethods you should use in helping people deal with psychological challenges'. Essentially NLP consists of 2 separate models of how to use language when doing psychotherapy - then the tools were taken and applied to advertising, sales and even education! Why? Because NLP explains the structure of language and with it provides tools with which we can focus our minds on perspectives that are useful.

A Short History of NLP

NLP was developed by studying the extremely effective therapeutic techniques of 3 successful therapists. Which led to the development of 2 separate ‘models of the mind’ that combined together to form the methods of NLP.

Richard Bandler and John Grinder began by studying Fritz Perls and Virginia Satir and basedon their observations of how they were able to help people they developed a model of therapycalled “The Meta Model”, first published in their book "The Structure of Magic Volume 1" (which is a book about linguistics not magic).

The other model is called “The Milton Model” which was developed by observing the therapeutic style of hypnotherapist Milton Erickson. This was first published in the book “The Hypnotic Techniques of Milton Erikson”.

The presuppositions of NLP were compiled by observing how these 3 therapists were effective and what they assumed about clients when helping them.

Learning and applying the techniques of NLP have helped more people with higher success rates than any other field of psychotherapy. Strangely enough very few of NLP’s techniques are taught in psychology courses (instead focusing on theories rather than actual methods that work to get a patient from point A to point B). However, NLP is used extensively in media and advertising.

[Note: NLP includes the field of modern hypnosis which has an extremely large success rate in helping with common psychological challenges – such as phobia cures – than regular psychotherapy.]

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Presuppositions of NLP

1. The map is not the territory

This is a concept from General Semantic smeant to convey that every perspective is only an outline to serve as a guide for experience. It’s the same as saying, ‘the menu is not the meal’

The goal of this statement is to suggest that you must keep an open mind when dealing with any situation. You can’t possibly know everything. In other words, you’re understanding of reality (and thus the world around you) isn't necessarily reality itself but your idea of reality.

2. Everything you do is communicating something

In every interaction involving human beings there is communication. Even if you ignore someone you are communicating indifference or anger. If you pay attention to people and interact with them then all your words, facial expressions, voice tonality and body postures willcommunicate ideas and feelings to them. In other words, whether you interact with others or not, you can’t help but communicate something.

3. The meaning of your communication is the response you get

Quite simply, if you act in a way that makes a person angry then this response of anger also is what your actions mean.

You may not have been consciously trying to make someone angry but your words and behaviour led to anger being directed towards you. You could have acted in a different way, inwhich case you would have received a different response.

The key from this presupposition is to realize that if you want to change the response you are getting you have the change your approach to communication with the people concerned.

4. There is no failure only feedback

Whatever response you get from communication is providing you with information (i.e. feedback). If you make someone get angry or feel hurt you havnt failed you have simply figureout an approach that doesn’t work. In other words, your communication has given you feedback.

Now you can try a different approach and see if you get the response you want.

If you approach your communication in this manner you are always learning what works and what doesn’t work and all you have to do is go with the approach that gets you the response that you are seeking.

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5. Respect the other person’s map of the world

If you respect how the other person sees the world then you can communicate more effectively and will be able to help a person to a greater extent. If you are disrespectful then this may come across in your communications and you may miss a key element in how the other person sees the world that gives you the information you need to help them.

6. Every behavior has a positive intention even if it has a negative impact

Everything a person does is meant to help them in some way. The action may actually be detrimental to what they want to achieve however, the intention behind the action is to make the situation better for themselves, not worse.

For example; someone screaming and shouting may seem like a negative behavior but the goal of the person screaming may be to protect themselves or to push someone away that they dislike – not realizing that the method they are using is inappropriate or ineffective.

7. You are in charge of how you communicate

This is an empowering principle as it means that you have the flexibility to reach the goal you want. You must be able to change your communication if you require a different response or approach a situation with different ideas to help the person get to the goal that is desired. In either case, it is up to you to have the flexibility to succeed.

The Meta Model

When we communicate we automatically edit what we say as we can’t include all of our thoughts, beliefs, memories and decisions into all our statements. For example; if you say “I think my friend doesn't like me”. This is a simple statement that includes many things that are left out as they are not necessary to express how you feel. You left out which friend, how you know the friend doesn't like you, why the friend doesn't like you (in your opinion) and so on. Basically you left your values, memories, decision making process and perspective on your friend.

In the language of the Meta Model all the stuff you left out in making your assessment is called the ‘deep structure’ (of your thoughts) while what you ended up saying is your ‘surface structure’ or what is said minus the totality of your assessment.

The problems that tend to arise in communication are often because those who you are talking to do not know the deep structure of what you are saying. They can only ‘see’ the surface structure of what you are saying. As a consequence all the details left out are filled in by their own understanding of the words you are using and the meanings they convey. That means that when someone is trying to help you based on just a few statements, all their

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advice is based on the deep structure of their own experiences (i.e. people will often assume they understand what you are saying without knowing the details). This leads to misunderstandings and bad advice.

Thus the Meta Model consists of a set of questions that should be asked to get to the deep structure of the thought being expressed. Understanding the deep structure will lead to better communication and better advice and even help a person understand their own problems andfeelings to a greater degree.

The types of questions asked are designed to uncover information that is left out along the following lines.

Deletion: We leave out information. So ask ‘about what?’ or ‘which friend?’ or ‘how do you know this’ to get to the underlying deep structure.

Generalizations: We will often generalize our experiences to include everything when it may only be a specific problem (for example; a depressed person when looking back will only see a depressed life and will ‘forget’ all the good times coloring all of their life with the dull view of their sad perspective).

Distortion: We will often exaggerate or over simplify a situation when you communicate. To get to the underlying structure of what is being said you have to ask questions to remove the deletion, generalization or distortion that tends to occur in our communications.

The Milton Model

The Milton Model is the exact opposite of the Meta Model in that instead of moving towards being specific the goal is to be vague.

The idea behind the Milton Model is that a person already has the mental resources to solve their problems and it is the job of the therapist to guide the client to access their own resources to solve their problems/challenges. By establishing rapport with the client the therapist figures out which way to guide the client based on the clients own responses and by structuring the language in the sentences being said to the client so they find deep meaning, that helps them to transform themselves from the inside out, using their own unconscious resources.

This process involves establishing rapport with the client so there is trust, followed by relaxing/focusing the client of the issues concerned - using positive suggestions and metaphors - so the client can guide him or her self out of their dilemma using their own inner resources.

The "5 Minute" Phobia Cure

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The fast phobia cure is based on the idea that a phobia is a learned response and can be reduced through dissasociation. A response that is learned extremely fast. That means that generally when someone is afraid of something (intensely) it’s because they had a bad experience and as a result are scared of encountering similar situations again. This bad experience tends to be a one time thing. You have your bad experience and have a phobic response for the rest of your life. The fast phobia cure was developed by Richard Bandler as a simple and fast way to diffuse the fear around a behavior that is learned fast.

The key aspect of getting someone to face a phobia and ultimately cure themselves of it has to do with a psychological mental stance called ‘disassociation’ :

ABSTRACT: Evaluated a program for treating phobias based on R. Bandler and J. Grinder's (1979) neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and Ericksonian approaches to psychotherapy within the context of a multifaceted treatment program. 31 phobic patients seen in the group/class treatment program completed a phobia questionnaire fear inventory and the BeckDepression Inventory before and after 8 wks of treatment. 17 patients seen in individual therapy completed part of the phobia questionnaire before and after treatment. Results indicate marked improvement by those who were treated. Findings suggest that NLP holds promise for treating phobias. - PsycLIT Database Copyright 1989 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved

When I first learned this method I used it on everyone I could find, who had even the slightest phobic response to anything. So through several months in college I diffused intense fear andpretty much cured phobias involving bugs of various kinds. Over time I could go over the technique in under 3 minutes with effective results.

The following outline of the fast phobia cure is from the book “Using Your Brain for a Change” by Richard Bandler (page 43)

Teaching someone how, and when, to associate or dissociate is one of the most profound and pervasive ways to change the quality of a person's experience, and the behavior that results from it. Dissociation is particularly useful for intensely unpleasantmemories.

Does anybody in here have a phobia? I love phobias, but they're so easy to fix that we're running out of them. Look at that. The only people in here with phobias have phobias of raising their hands in an audience.

Joan: I have one.Do you have a real, flaming phobia?

Joan: Well it's pretty bad. (She starts breathing rapidly and shaking.)

I can see that.

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Joan: Do you want to know what it's about?

No, I don't. I'm a mathematician. I work purely with process.I can't know your inside experience anyway, so why talk about it? You don't have to talk aboutyour inside experience to change it. In fact, if you talk about it, your therapist may end up being a professional companion. You know what you're phobic of. Is it something you see, or hear, or feel?

Joan: It's something I see.

OK. I'm going to ask you to do a few things that you can do in your mind really quickly, so thatyour phobia won't bother you at all, ever again. I'll give you the directions one part at atime, and then you go inside and do it. Nod when you're done.

First I want you to imagine that you're sitting in the middle of a movie theater, and up on the screen you can see a blackand-white snapshot in which you see yourself in a situation just before you had the phobic response. . . .

Then I want you to float out of your body up to the projection booth of the theater, where you can watch yourself watching yourself. From that position you'll be able to see yourself sittingInthe middle of the theater, and also see yourself in the still Picture up on the screen.

Now I want you to turn that snapshot up on the screen into a black-and-white movie, and watch it from the beginning to just beyond the end of that unpleasant experience. When you get to the end I want you to stop it as a slide, and then jump inside the picture and run the movie backwards. All the people will walk backwards and everything else will happen in reverse, just like rewinding a movie, except you will be inside the movie. Run it backwards in color and take only about one or two seconds to do it. ...

Now think about what it is you were phobic of. See what you would see if you were actually there. . .

Thus, the technique to reduce negative reactions to events or to reduce the fear of phobias, is:

1. First I want you to imagine that you're sitting in the middle of a movie theater, and upon the screen you can see a blackand-white snapshot in which you see yourself in a situation just before you had the phobic response. . . .

2. Then I want you to float out of your body up to the projection booth of the theater, where you can watch yourself watching yourself. From that position you'll be able to see yourself sittingIn the middle of the theater, and also see yourself in the still Picture

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up on the screen.

3. Now I want you to turn that snapshot up on the screen into a black-and-white movie,and watch it from the beginning to just beyond the end of that unpleasant experience. When you get to the end I want you to stop it as a slide, and then jump inside the picture and run the movie backwards. All the people will walk backwards and everything else will happen in reverse, just like rewinding a movie, except you will be inside the movie. Run it backwards in color and take only about one or two seconds to do it. ...

Now think about what it is you were phobic of. See what you would see if you were actually there. . . (I.e see if the phobic response is gone or has decreased. If its gone forget about it and if its only decreased do the exercise a few more times.)

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is taught all over the world in seminars. Many books, tape sets and videos are also available by many different experts. Just do a search online andlearn a bunch of NLP techniques to build up your mental skills and understanding of the mind and how to make it work for you.

Study confirmation of the techniques effectiveness is here.

From NLP Online;

Swish Pattern From NLP: This technique involves replacing an old image of a habit (something you want to change/be-gone) with something you do want. Explanation of the swish pattern is located here online. Or you could just learn from this video.

"Phobia Cure" From NLP located here in written form and a video is here and here.

To learn more about NLP you can watch Richar Bandler (one of its founders) explain it on thisyou tube video playlist.

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